Chapter 20 of The House of Helen is here in full — 127 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of The House of Helen is here in full — 127 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors. Her diffidence and reserve vanished. She was exalted. She glowed. She had passed into another state of being.
Chapter 20 of The House of Helen is here in full — 127 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/25 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
past form of “conquer” — bring under control by force or authority
From this reading “The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.”
pleasantly occupied
From this reading “The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.”
of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style
From this reading “She was exalted.”
marked by ostentation but often tasteless
From this reading “The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.”
past form of “glow” — emit a steady even light without flames
From this reading “She glowed.”
United States electrical engineer who pioneered mathematical communication theory (1916-2001)
From this reading “The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.”
struck with fear, dread, or consternation
From this reading “The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.”
done by design
From this reading “The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “She had passed into another state of being.”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
one more of the same kind, or a different one
From this reading She had passed into another state of being.
a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
the -ing form of “be”
From this reading She had passed into another state of being.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
past form of “conquer” — bring under control by force or authority
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
lack of self-confidence
From this reading Her diffidence and reserve vanished.
something intended to communicate a particular impression
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
pleasantly occupied
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style
From this reading She was exalted.
after an unspecified period of time or an especially long delay
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
marked by ostentation but often tasteless
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
past form of “glow” — emit a steady even light without flames
From this reading She glowed.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading She had passed into another state of being.
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading She had passed into another state of being.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
plural of “neighbor” — a person who lives (or is located) near another
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
past form of “pass” — go across or through
From this reading She had passed into another state of being.
formality and propriety of manner
From this reading Her diffidence and reserve vanished.
United States electrical engineer who pioneered mathematical communication theory (1916-2001)
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She was exalted.
struck with fear, dread, or consternation
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
the territory occupied by one of the constituent administrative districts of a nation
From this reading She had passed into another state of being.
plural of “suspicion” — an impression that something might be the case
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
having passed out of existence
From this reading Her diffidence and reserve vanished.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading She was exalted.
done by design
From this reading The flamboyant display Helen made of her baby shocked Shannon and finally conquered the willful suspicions entertained by her neighbors.
Chapter 20 of The House of Helen by Corra Harris holds 127 sentences, grouped into 26 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 20 holds 127 sentences of The House of Helen, unabridged, divided into 26 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of The House of Helen by Corra Harris exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 127 sentences, grouped into 26 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 26 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 26 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 20 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading The House of Helen by Corra Harris on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3405 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #60169 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #60169, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 283 minutes of reading across 681 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The House of Helen section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of The House of Helen to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in The House of Helen, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
